Otello (1986)
|
Our Price: $35.69 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $24.94 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Otello (1986)
Movie Review: Let it be your first Otello
Summary: 4 Stars
This is, hands down, the best performance of Otello. Domingo is a pretty good actor on his own, but Zefferelli really unleashes Domingo's true potential as a pure acting force. It is said that Lawrence Oliver saw Domingo plsy Otello and said "He plays him as well as i do, AND he has that voice!" That being said, some of the cuts are understandable, most are annoying. But i believe most of the cuts are only annoying to those people who know the score well enough to hear the change of a phrase. I would reccomend this as a firs Otello, because it is at the heart of what Verdi was getting at, a drama through music. Cuts such as "Questa un ragna" and the giant choral piece at the end of Desdemona's "A terra...si..." are beautiful, but hardly dramatically viable. But cuts, such as in the final seen in the "Che le...otello" really ruin the drama in that section i feel. Part of the genius of that section is the way that the music intensifies as the drama intensifies, and Zefferelli doesn't allow that to happen. However, this is nitpicking on my part. Zefferelli's Otello is a beautiful piece, the performances are more convincing than any other production i've other seen, so he cut a little. He had a reason. I don't know it. You don't know it. Enjoy it for what it is.Movie Review: Let it be your first Otello
Summary: 4 Stars
This is, hands down, the best performance of Otello. Domingo is a pretty good actor on his own, but Zefferelli really unleashes Domingo's true potential as a pure acting force. It is said that Lawrence Oliver saw Domingo plsy Otello and said "He plays him as well as i do, AND he has that voice!" That being said, some of the cuts are understandable, most are annoying. But i believe most of the cuts are only annoying to those people who know the score well enough to hear the change of a phrase. I would reccomend this as a firs Otello, because it is at the heart of what Verdi was getting at, a drama through music. Cuts such as "Questa un ragna" and the giant choral piece at the end of Desdemona's "A terra...si..." are beautiful, but hardly dramatically viable. But cuts, such as in the final seen in the "Che le...otello" really ruin the drama in that section i feel. Part of the genius of that section is the way that the music intensifies as the drama intensifies, and Zefferelli doesn't allow that to happen. However, this is nitpicking on my part. Zefferelli's Otello is a beautiful piece, the performances are more convincing than any other production i've other seen, so he cut a little. He had a reason. I don't know it. You don't know it. Enjoy it for what it is.Movie Review: Placido Domingo as Otello? <sigh>
Summary: 4 Stars
Okay, i come to this review with a prejudice. I like opera and I LOVE Placido Domingo (what a warm, yummy voice he has!) so I gave this version 4 stars. Zeffirelli did a great job in directing yet another of his opera-to-film and the sets and staging is ingenious. I REALLY liked "the temptation scene" set in a learned man's library with maps, atronomy devices (astroglobe?), and the trappings of empiricism surrounding Othello and Iago as Iago attempts to drop specious comments about Desdemona. Very smart! The Christianity stuff was a little heavy-handed and Iago was portrayed not as calculating but as some oddly placed agent of the devil. Weird! But I think that was Verdi's fault, though, and Zeffirelli went with it 100%. Lots of fun! Great singing! If Placido was the "black ram tupping your white ewe," wouldn't you? ;)Movie Review: verdi is great enough to enjoy this version
Summary: 4 Stars
We all know that one of opera's greatest qualities is the ability to have two, four or eight people express their emotions at the same time. Zeffirelli's wonderful gift to us allows us to visualize the places Verdi envisioned as well as each character's inner and outer life. For example, the marvelous scene where gifts are being brought to Desdemona is an exquisite Botticelli canvas. Anyone can criticize anything - but can we appreciate this unique film? Domingo and Diaz are incomparable; if they entrusted their time and effort to Zeffirelli, we can certainly SEE and hear this work of genius in this form. The lighting alone is worth a serious viewing !Movie Review: A good film totally ruined by the Director.
Summary: 2 Stars
This film is not for Opera funs especially for connoisseurs of Verdi's Otello. Franco Zeffirelli simply presents his own version of the Opera and NOT VERDI'S. The film starts brilliantly with Otello's ship in the high seas in a most spectacular storm. Problems begin as soon as Otello lands in Cyprus. (Cyprus by the way and not Venice! as mentioned at the back of the DVD by some inexcusably ignorant person). Music from a ballet score that Verdi had written for Paris emerges instead of the expected chorus. The rest of the act is fine except for the fact that Otello points to the stars (the Pleiades) at Desdemona inside his bedroom (where she can see no stars) and two minutes later he takes Desdemona on the harbour for a walk (where she could see the stars) but it is later on the score, so the point is missed. The problems really start from act 2. After Iago's credo, which by the way is very well done, Zeffirelli cuts the famous duet between Otello and Iago (I like that not!) and then alters the sequence of the music in a most indescribable way. From there on we are watching a version of the Opera by Zeffirelli and not Verdi. I bought the Opera for Verdi, thank you very much. No wonder that the great conductor Carlos Kleiber who led the same principals at La Scala, Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera, refused to be associated with this film.
Domingo was at the time, at the height of his vocal powers and the Otello of the late 20th century. He may not match vocally people like Del Monaco, Martinelli, Zanatello or Tamagnio, but these were singers of the past. Only Del Monaco has a visual record of his performance of Otello in an old black & white 50's film of the opera, with poor visual quality, but with a splendid voice. Diaz is good as Iago, but not excellent and Ricciarelli, adequate but not memorable. As for Lorin Maazel, he is an extremely poor substitute for Carlos Kleiber.
A great pity, for this had the potential to be a great film of Verdi's finest Opera. The performance with Domingo from the Metropolitan Opera is far preferable. His most recent from La Scala, wonderfully conducted by Muti, has a rather aged Domingo and very bad sets. If you can endure the bad quality off the Del Monaco film version, conducted by Toulio Serafin, get it before it disappears from the catalogue.